Corporate India works in English, but the enormous informal economy — shops, wholesalers, contractors and tradespeople — works almost entirely in Hindi. If you deal with a supplier, hire a contractor or run anything small yourself, this is the vocabulary that genuinely matters, and it is quite different from the English business terms you may already know.
Money and Accounts
हिसाब is the central word in Indian small business — it means the running account between two parties, and हिसाब कर लो means settle up. उधार is credit extended informally without paperwork, and it underpins a great deal of Indian trade. Many shops display a sign reading उधार प्रेम की कैंची है — credit is the scissors that cut friendship.
Trade and Transactions
माल is worth knowing because it appears constantly — a shopkeeper describing बढ़िया माल is vouching for quality stock. थोक and फुटकर distinguish wholesale from retail markets, and asking for a थोक rate when buying in quantity is entirely normal even in a small shop.
Note that मुनाफ़ा and घाटा are the everyday words. The formal Sanskrit लाभ and हानि appear in writing and accounting but rarely in a conversation between traders.
Negotiating a Deal
बात पक्की is how an agreement is closed, often with a handshake and nothing written down. Verbal agreements carry real weight in Indian small business, and reneging on one damages a reputation in ways that matter commercially. Conversely, asking for everything in writing with a small trader can read as distrust rather than professionalism.
Always clarify इसमें क्या शामिल है? — what is included — because quoted prices frequently exclude transport, installation or materials, and this is a source of genuine misunderstanding rather than deliberate deception.
Quotes for work usually separate मज़दूरी from सामान — labour from materials — and you need to establish which the price covers. कब तक हो जाएगा? is the essential question, and the answer should be pressed for a specific date, since हो जाएगा on its own is reassurance rather than a commitment.
Cultural Note
Indian business runs substantially on relationships and reputation rather than contracts. A supplier who considers you a regular will extend credit, prioritise your order and quote a better price, and building that relationship is a commercial strategy rather than mere friendliness.
The बोहनी custom is worth knowing — the first sale of the day is believed to set the day’s fortune, so an early customer often gets an unusually good price and a vendor is reluctant to let the first negotiation fail.
Family businesses dominate Indian trade, which means the person you are negotiating with may be spending family money and answering to a father or uncle. Decisions can therefore take longer than the conversation suggests, and pressing for an immediate answer sometimes achieves the opposite.
Pronunciation Tips
हिसाब is three even beats. मुनाफ़ा carries a nukta f. नक़द has the deep क़, commonly softened to plain k. ठेकेदार opens with an aspirated retroflex ṭh. And मज़दूरी takes a nukta z with a long oo in the middle — four beats with the stress spread evenly.
Common Mistakes
- Not asking what a quoted price includes.
- Treating हो जाएगा as a deadline rather than reassurance.
- Demanding written contracts from small traders, which can read as distrust.
- Using formal terms like लाभ and हानि in conversation with traders.
- Pressing for an immediate decision in a family business.
Practice Exercises
- Ask for a rate, clarify inclusions and confirm a deal in Hindi.
- Separate a quote into मज़दूरी and सामान.
- Convert हो जाएगा into a specific date three times.
- Learn the five money words and use each in a sentence.
- Ask for a wholesale rate when buying in quantity.